


ashes to ashes, dust to dust

by Soldat_Buck



Category: Captain America (Movies), Ghost (Sweden Band), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Purgatory, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:21:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soldat_Buck/pseuds/Soldat_Buck
Summary: you know how you take two unrelated dolls/action figures and mash them together until they kiss and/or are married forever and ever?that's it. that's basically the entire premise.
Relationships: Papa Emeritus III/James "Bucky" Barnes
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9





	ashes to ashes, dust to dust

"St-Steve?"

Butterflies were taking over his whole body.

All the sounds of battle gently melted away, gradually replaced by a howling breeze. Bucky felt the sensation of falling, but he was still standing.

The woods were the same, but he couldn’t see Steve anymore through the fog. Clouds obscured the sky. The trees were still, despite the wind.

He couldn’t see anyone. He couldn’t hear anyone.

Goddammit.

Sighing heavily and not sure of what else to do, Bucky turned and started walking back through the woods towards T’Challa’s tower. If anyone else is around, it was his best bet to find them.

———

A slight movement in the haze ahead of him.

Bucky cautiously lifts his rifle- wait. Shit. No guns in the afterlife.

Okay. No guns means no shooting. He shrugs his shoulder to sling his rifle ba- oh for _fuck’s_ sake. He’s been dead for thirty seconds and he’s already pissed off enough to leave.

Alright. Time to get some fucking answers.

Bucky grinds his teeth and speeds up towards the movement.

It doesn't take long to catch up. They don't notice his approach, which was unsurprising to Bucky. Spend a few decades as an assassin ( _brainwashed_ assassin, thank you very much, he wasn't actually a bad person) and running quietly becomes second nature.

Bucky follows in silence, sizing the stranger up. They definitely didn't look like anyone he had seen on either side of the battlefield. Most of Thanos' armies would have fit in a Lord of the Rings scene, and none of the Avengers or Wakandans wore black robes that swept the ground so dramatically. Nor did they wear a- …jeez, is that a pope hat?

Bucky can't say he spent as much time in church as his mother would have liked, but he was still pretty sure that was the same kind of hat the Pope wore. He was also pretty sure the Pope didn't wear all black, and he was definitely sure that the Pope didn't carry a staff with an inverted cross. What the absolute fuck.

The figure stops. Shit. Bucky didn't realize he said that out loud.

"I have been wondering when and if you would stop being so silly and come over and introduce yourself," the figure calls over his shoulder. "I may serve the Old One, but I am not so bad, you know."

The blood drains from Bucky's face. How did he hear him? Even Steve had difficulty picking up the sound of Bucky in stealth mode. And Bucky usually kept much closer to Steve.

Uncharacteristically wary, Bucky steps out from behind a tree. The stranger waits for Bucky to close the hundred-foot gap between them. When Bucky is within an arm's distance, the stranger abruptly starts walking again, faster this time.

"Wait- Wait!" Bucky almost had difficulty keeping up with the Stranger now. It was pretty concerning, when Bucky usually the opposite problem. Even with Steve. Who _is_ this guy?!

He slows, slightly, allowing Bucky to match his pace. Walking side-by-side gives Bucky his first glimpse at the Stranger’s face. Given how out of place everything has been so far, he expected to see something a bit unusual. It was still a shock to see the striking black and white, skull-like marking that completely covered his face.

"Staring is quite rude. I would appreciate it if you would stop," the Stranger says, turning to make eye contact for the first time. Bucky thought he wasn't staring before, but he certainly was now. The Stranger's mismatched eyes were oddly captivating.

Bucky licked his lips from nervousness. "I'm sorry. Really, I am. I just- I don't know where I am and I don't know where any of my friends are and… I don't understand. What is this? Am I dead?"

"My child, you are not dead. You are merely lost," came the skull-faced reply. Bucky wasn't sure about how he felt about that.

“So. This means that… Thanos won. He got what he wanted.” Bucky slowed to a stop, causing the Stranger to turn and stop as well.

“He actually did it.” Speaking the words out loud made it real. A part of him knew that, but it was easier to deny it before he actually said it.

There was a long silence before the figure moved or spoke.

The infernal farce of a pope responded with a quizzical tilt of his head. “I’m sorry, who?”

Bucky blinked slowly.

“What? Who, who’s Thanos?!” Bucky’s heart was pounding now. “If you’re some sort of spiritual… afterlife guy, how do you not know what’s happening?? What is going on here, where in the hell am I?!”

“Ah,” the Anti-pope smiled, “now you are asking things I can answer. No, we are not in Hell, sadly." He looked genuinely upset about this. "You can’t go, as you are not actually dead.” 

“We are not in Heaven, either. To be murdered is to be martyred and to become a martyr is to be sent to Heaven. My Sister knew this and murdered my brothers and me to get back at Papa for ignoring her bastard son with him. She is so wonderfully selfish, but short-sighted." He smiled wistfully at the thought of his sister. And to think, Bucky used to believe _his_ family dynamics were messed up.

"Heaven will not take you after you swear yourself to the Devil. Hell refuses to harbor martyrs. I can go to neither, so I am here. You, you are not technically dead, so to speak. So we are stuck in Nonexistence. Purgatory, if you must use… _Catholic_ terms.” The word ‘Catholic’ was spat with such venom, Bucky involuntarily took a step back.

Bucky furrowed his brows in confusion. “What about the others?”

“What others?”

“Half of all life in the universe? That was Thanos’ goal, which he evidently met, half of all life in the universe will be gone?”

The Anti-pope shrugged. “Clearly they are not here. It is not my problem and it shouldn’t be yours.” He turned away from Bucky, intent on resuming his walk.

“Not my- Not my problem?! I told you that half of all life in the entire _universe_ is gone and that’s what you have to say about it??” Bucky marched over and grabbed him by the shoulder, turning him back. “How about showing a little empathy or compassion in a tragedy like this? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Who do I think I am?" he repeated slowly, turning his full gaze onto Bucky. His left eye seemed to glow, a white flame of anger.

"No. I have no questions of who I am. I know who I am.” He straightened to his full height, towering several inches over Bucky. He scowled at Bucky, his skull markings becoming more menacing. “I come from a long lineage of men, generation after generation marked,” he pointed to his left eye, “for our service to the Dark Lords and Kings of Hell. I am Papa Emeritus the Third, brother to Papa Emeritus the First and Papa Emeritus the Second, son of Papa Emeritus Nihil. No little boy, I think the question here is,“ he jabbed his finger into Bucky’s chest, ”who the fuck are _you_?”

Bucky narrowed his eyes. He covered Papa’s hand with his own and carefully lowered it. “I’ve done more to shape history than you, or anyone, will ever know,” he replied quietly. “I’m the most famous person you’ve never heard of. The few who have seen me believe me to be a ghost story.” He matched Papa’s fiery gaze with his own cold stare. “I’ve had a lot of names through the decades, but the only one I like enough to keep is Bucky.”

They stare each other down for the longest seconds Bucky has ever felt in his life. Papa is the first one to crack. “Bucky? Really, or are you shitting me?” he asks, barely concealing his amusement. "It takes a lot of nerve for someone so full of defiant self-righteousness to use a name like Bucky."

"I will allow you to keep me company." He eyes Bucky up and down with a new-found appreciation, a smile slowly forming on his face. "I think I like you."

**Author's Note:**

> oh dear lord, I have no idea what tags to add; how do i fandom, i am not good with computer
> 
> Am I using those Catholic terms correctly? No.
> 
> Will I fix it? Also, no.
> 
> Will I ever write Stuck 4 Dead 2? I want to, I don't know when. Papa is a bit more attention demanding, though. When life stops getting in the way so much, we will see.


End file.
